OFFSITE AWARDS 2017
Nando’s: the Next Generation B & K Structures were appointed to design and construct a concept ‘ecological’ restaurant for the well-known high street food chain in Cambridge. The hybrid structure incorporates the benefits of CLT panels, glulam beams and timber wall cassettes to create a 100% eco-friendly restaurant.
01 Nando’s Cambridge is the company’s first UK ‘Next Generation’ restaurant, which was designed as a prototype to trial a number of new sustainability measures which will be further utilised across the company’s wider estate. The high-quality design incorporates a number of sustainability measures, which will contribute positively to the commercial future of the restaurant as well as being eco-friendly to the surrounding area. Featuring timber cladding, an architectural green wall and a flat sedum roof with PV panels, the design allows natural light to flood in to create a bright and welcoming space. With the cassette structure installed in just one week, Nando’s Cambridge is the perfect example of how the use of offsite and timber technology can quickly transform an area of unused car parking into a retail outlet that makes a positive contribution, visually, environmentally and economically to the surrounding area.
The CLT roof panels act as horizontal diaphragms which distribute horizontal loads through the glulam beams to the wall cassettes below. The cassettes act as vertical stability walls, including structural timber studs in their build up, designed to carry the vertical loads. The feature glazing around the restaurants entrance, which is the main source of natural light into the building, hangs from two glulam beams. These beams are supported by a single glulam column and the timber studs in the cassette walls. Incorporating a number of sustainability measures, Nando’s Cambridge features a flat sedum roof, with PV panels and a rainwater harvesting system to hydrate the plants within an external ‘living wall’. The restaurant’s smart heating system automatically dies down when the air-conditioning is on and switches off entirely when the temperature rises above 15°c. The ‘Next Generation’ Nando’s is the first of its kind in the world to be powered by 100% renewable electricity and gas.
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Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA) was used as the foundation for concurrent engineering processes to simplify and fully optimise the structure. This process helped to identify and eliminate waste or inefficiency in the building design and facilitated greater offsite manufacture to meet the challenging schedule of a three week build programme, with an average of 100m² of cassettes installed each day to keep the programme on-track. The hybrid structure was manufactured offsite to exceptional levels of accuracy to ensure the seamless interface of the number of materials incorporated within the build. To complete this building using traditional ‘onsite’ methods it was calculated that the project would take nearly a year to construct. From possession of the site in September 2016 to the completion of the building envelope just five months later, to the fit out and opening on 31 March 2017 – took under 30 weeks. Nando’s are positioning their strategies around factors such as sustainability, aesthetics and developing outstanding facilities to create the optimum customer experience. Retailers are recognising that creating the optimum customer experience can be worth millions in annual revenue and now is the time for contractors to exploit these trends to reap the rewards. Using timber and offsite methods accelerated the build programme offering a much faster return on investment than what could have been achieved through traditional ‘onsite’ methods. This paired with the lower energy consumption achieved through excellent airtightness and thermal performance made the hybrid CLT, glulam and cassette structure the most economical solution. For more information visit: www.bkstructures.co.uk IMAGES: 01. The Next Generation outlet is a landmark sustainable restaurant featuring many timber elements